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HONljf'M. HOWARB 



f'N THK 



J^EWATE OF THE INflTED STATES. JAIVIARY, mi. 



ON THE 

Motion of Mr. WILSON, of Mass., 'i^ expkl Mk. BAVIb,. ©r 

Ky., for OFFJiRINO A SERIES OF RESOLUTIONS IN THE SeNATK: 

TENDING TO INCITE INSURRECTION :— THE QUESTION 

BKING ON Mr. HOWARD'S motion TO 

AMEND Mr. WILSON'S so a.s to 

censure and^'ot expel 

Uk. DAYT^. 




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U. P0I.K1MI'( H" 



WASHINGTON: 

'li INTER. ST-O ANP 377 P RTPfimV N*f^'\R BKYEJ^JpJ 



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SPEECH OF HON. J. M. HOWARD, OF MICHIGAN. 



Mr. HOWARD. Mr.'.Presjident.^I deeply reprret that a seusrt of liuty a^ a member of 
tkis body- shouW re.|ulre me to aot the- part I am about to act ia reference to tUe Senator 
from Kentuckj. I have known him for more than twenty years. I had the pleasure 
to be associated with him aa a member of the Twenty-Seventh Congress, and during 
that turbulent and agitating period had occasion very frequently to admire bis 
frankness, his patriotism, and* his devotions to his principles — principles in which I 
sincerely sympathized with him. We were both acting in promotion of the same politi- 
cal objects, both in the same political party, and I confess, sir, that when I look back 
upon those ancient scenes, my feelings are hurt to be obliged to tlxrow myself into a 
position of antagonism to him who^was then my friend and political associate. But 
for all this, sir, he must pardon me, atjleast excuse me ; I feel that there is a duty due 
from me to this body and to the country, and that duty impels me to take a somewhat 
particular notice of the series of resolutions offered by the Senator from Kentucky, 
which form the foundation of the resolution of the' Senator from Massachusetts for his 
expulsion. 

On the 5tli of January, the honorable^Senator from Kentucky presented to this body 
a series of very singular resolutions, and asked the Senate to order them to be printed. 
The Senate made the order. They ,were printed at the public expense, and are now 
pending before us. They are resolutions intended for consideration ; we are asked to 
pass our judgment upon them. We are asked to vote on them, and to adopt them as 
the sentiments of the Senate of the United States, one of the legislative branches of the 
G-orernment. In the course of this singular series, the Senator from Kentucky, after 
alleging various grounds of complaint against the Executive Government of the UniJted 
States and the action of what he calls the dominant party in the loyal States, uses this 
language : 

"Verily, the people North, and the people South ought to revolt against their war 
"leaders, and take this great matter into their own hands, and elect membois to a 
"National Convention of all the States, to terminate a war that is enriching hundrsds of 
"thousands of ofi&cers, plunderers, and spoilsmen in the loyal States, and threatens 
' ' the masses of both sections with irretrievable bankruptcy and indefinite slaughter ; 
"and to restore their Union and common Government upon the great principles of liberty 
"and compromise devised by Washington and his associates." 

And it is for the utterance of the sentiments contained in thin clause which I have 
read that the Senator from Massachusetts offered the resolutiou for his expulsion. 
Now, sir, I think I may say, without vanity, that I am too old and too well acquainted 
with the import of the English Language to find it necessary t» resort to dictionaries, 
whether English, French, or Latin, for the purpose of ascertaining the meaning of the 
word '■ T'-rih..'''' It id not oapal)le of dia usiion or disputation iq the cqnqectiou iu 



4 / 

•which it is used in this sentence. The implieation is plain and irresistible that the 
word "revolt," as used here, is a levolutiouary rising against the Government ot the 
United States ; an insurrectionary, violent, and bloody rising against the Government 
©1 oar common country. Such I regard as its meaning. The school-boy in the 
gentleman's own State, fifteen years old, is just as capable of giving the true interpre- 
tation of this language as he is or as I am. He is under no misapprehension in regard 
to it. When he hears the word " revolt, " in this connection, the idea at once and 
irresistibly suggests itself to his mind that the thing intended is a violeat, unlawful 
revolution against the Government, a bloody insurrection, the object and aim of which 
are the entire subvorsiou and overthrow of the rrovernment of tlu- United States as now 
administered. 

Sir, 1 cannot .sit in my seat in iKio ixxly uwd allnw .sentiments of this sort to be utter- 
ed without expressing my rebuke in .some form or other. We are engaged in a war, 
a civil war ; if you please, sir, a fratricidal war ; a war which is exacting from us the 
exertion of all the farulties of the Government, the people, the nation ; a war not 
merely for the restoration of the Government in the insurrectionary districts, but for 
its preservation and perpetuation for all time to come ; a war which is covering our laud 
with blood. It has already drenched the fair fields of Kentucky with fraternal blood. 
There, as in other i)laees, brother rises up in arms against brother, sou against father, 
/and father against .ion. The is.«ue is simply this : whotiior we shall maintain the au- 
thority 6i the Governmf^nt of the United States as established by the Constitution, 
or whether we shall abandon the struggle, giving the rebels their way, and finally suc- 
cumb in our effort, thus acknowledging that there is not in the Government of the 
United States vigor sufficient to maintain its own authority, its own existence. It i.-* 
at this anxious uvoment, in the midst of this deadly struggle, that the Senator from 
Kentucky asks the masses of the j^eoi^le to rise against their rulers in tumultuous in- 
siurrection, aud by a revolt hurl them from power. 

But, sir, the Senator from Kentucky denies that such a meaning is fairly to be im- 
puted to his language. I intend to treat both him and his resolutions fairly;, and Ih 
what I have to say I shall observe the plain duty incumbunt upon me, to confine my- 
self exclusively to the record which he has made of his own opinions ; that is, to the 
jesohitioES he has submitted to the Senate. The Senator from Kentucky declares in a 
«|)eech which he made to the Senate by way of comment on these resolutions : 

"Now, Mr. President, 1 ask gentlemea to read this whole series of resolutions. 1 
"deny that there is a sentiment or an exhortation in them inviting to insurrection, 
" rebellion, or war, or military violence." 

He th«n proceeds in thw couv.se of his remarks to read two of his resolutions, and 
again declares : 

" 1 utterly conttovcrl the po.sition that tliere is any insturectiou invited or stimulated 
" in these resolutions, or in any one of the series. The resolutions insftitute, or attempt 
" to institute, a bold and frank investigation of th(^ principles and measure.? of this 
" j^dminifitration," kc. 

Mr. President, the resolutions of fhe Senator from Kentucky, are befare this body sub- 
ject to be acted upon, aud he is desirous that we shall act ujwn them. It is not for 
him, having thus written out the instrument and submitted it for our consideration, t» 
j-et np to be Hb sole expositor. He is not at this stege oi' the proceeding to be 
allowed to g'ivt* it his own particular glo.S3 or peculiar comment. It is for us 
ss lv«*H 51*^ b^ti: tp c'ors'.rue ami inleipr.'t Ibe iii-iiunient : ituil l.iw must eerf.Ttuly 



have tiie chaiity to believe tliat .some of us at least ai'e equal to liiiuself in the power of 
analysis in matters of language, and that we are as able as he to comprehend the mean 
iug which this written instrument expresses. I cannot, tor one accept hi« commentary. 
I must be bound by the meaning as expressed in the instrument, and not in the com 
nientary. 

I shall HOW ask the indulgence of the Senate for a few moments, while I call their 
lUtention to a few clauses and expresvsions contained in this series, ibr the purpose of 
ascertaining, if possible, from those clauses and expressions, what were and are the 
Senator's real opinions and sentiments, his real design in offering the resolutions ; and 
I will begin with the very sentence which is the foundation of the resolution now before 
us. The Senator from Kentucky says : 

"Verily, the people North and the people t'oulh ought to revolt .'igainst the war 
■'leaders, and take this great matter into their own hand«.'" 

The people North and the peojile South ought to do thi,s. They ought to take this 
great matter, that is the war. the question of the continuance or discontinuance of tho 
war, into their own hands. Can it be doubted that the meaning of this lajiguage i.s, 
that it is tlie duty or the right of the whole people North and South to take the matter 
of this war into their own hands, without any reference to legislation, without any 
reference whatever to an election, or to any other matter or thing, and to dispose of i 
in their primary popular capacities without reference to law, Constitution, or anything 
of the kind? It seems to me there can be no doubt of it. The people North and the 
people South are called upon to revolt .against their war leaders. Who .are their war 
leaders" Not solely the President of the United States and the Executive Government, 
but both Houses of Congress. The Congress of the United States have the power to 
uontrol this war in all its particulars. The Congress of the United States vote supplies 
of men and money for the prosecution of the war: and if there .are war leaders, it is 
as plait! that the two Houses of Congress come within this category as that thQ Presi- 
dent comes within it. The Houses of Congress ai-e war leaders. The President is a 
war leader. His generals in the field are war leaders. The Senator from Kentucky in- 
vokes the people North and the people South to rise — revolt against their war leaders, 
and take the issue of this war ijito their own hands, without reference to law, without 
reference to the action of Congress, or to any other instrumentality known to the Got- 
ernment. He proceeds: 

"And elect members to a national convention of all the States, to terminate a war 
"that is enriching hundreds of thousands of officers, plunderers, and spoilsmen in the 
"loyal States, and threatens the masses of both sections with irretrievable bankruptcy 
"and indefinite slaughter : and to restore their Union and common Government upon 
"the great principles of libeity and compromise devised by Washington and hi.-i 
"associates.'" 

How is this convention to be elected? He calls upon the people in their original 
".apacity, both at the North and at the South, to revolt, to take the question of this 
war into their own hands, and elect a national convention. The Senator from Ken- 
tucky knows well enough that it is not competent for the people of the United States, 
whether at the North or at the South, to elect members of a national convention for any 
purpose whatever without the consent of Congress. There are but two modes of 
amending the Constitution. The first is, where the Congress sihaW recommend or pro- 
pose certain definite amendments to be acted upon by the various States. The second 
rao<le, where two-thirds of the several Staters of the Union call upon Congress to call a 
national conventioa: but no national convention can possibly exist, let me tell the 



Senator from Kentucky, without the conseiit of the body of which he and I are mem- 
bers. 

This resolution entirely ignores the legal forms required by the Constitution. In- 
stead of calling upon Congress to summon a national convention, instead of calling 
npon the State Legislatures to instruct Congress to do tliis, the Senator from Kentucky 
calls \ipon the people to risef in their primary capacity and meet in national convention 
and so amend the Constitution as, in his language, "to restore the Union and Consti- 
tution xipon the great principles of liberty and compromise adopted by Washington 
and his associates. ' 

That clause of his resolutions is plainly no appeal to any constitutional mode of alter- 
ing the Constitution, but one directly to a revolutionary mode of doing so. Where 
would it end? Who could control the results? Who would be under an obligation to 
obey the final decree ? What people are to be called together in national convention 
for this great purpose ? Would the Senator from Kentucky allow the rebels in arms to 
participate in this convention ? Certainly he would ! Certainly he invites it ! The 
resolution recognizes the right of the rebels in arms to participate in this "election" 
as much as the loyal people at their quiet homes. It would appear from this that, so 
far as the Senator is concerned, he is just as much attached to the rebels now seeking 
to destroy the Government of liis country, and to expel him from liis home and his 
fireside, as to the loyal portion of the population now endeavoring to resist their bloody 
violence. Sir, this is a spirit of charity toward the rebels, I confess, in which I do not 
sympathize. I do not understand that kind of loyalty which occupies an attitude of 
indifference between parties like those now engaged in deadly combat the one against 
the other. Such a position of neutrality is monstrous ; it is hostility. There is no 
middle ground or post of indifierence which ran be occupied by any true man. In this 
contest he who is not for us is against U:^. 

But, sir, the animus and purpose of the Senator from Kentucky are further devel- 
oped in the few papsag<>s from his resolutions which I shall now proceed to read. He 
says : 

"That the present Executive Government of the United States has subverted " — 

That is, destroyed, annulled, put out of existence — 
"for the time in large jiortions of the loyal States, the freedom of speech, the freedom 
"of t};e press, and free suffrage." 

I will not paxise to inquire into the pretended facts which in the mind of the Senator 
from Kentucky may serve as a foundation for this strange assertion. I read it for the 
purpose of showing the animus of his resolutions, for the purpose of showing the very 
thing he had in view when he called upon the people North and the people South to 
revolt against their war leaders. One of the reasons for this revolt is, 

"That the present Executive Government of the United States has subverted for the 
"time in large portions of the loyal States the freedom of speech, tlin freedom of the 
"press, and free suffrage." 

If this be founded in truth, if there be evidence of the fact affirmed in this declaration, 
then this complaint against the Government of the United States, may be regarded as 
well founded. The comiilaint is that the Government has subverted these precious 
privileges belonging to the American people. If the Executive Government has thus 
subverted and destroyed them, it would follow not only in the mind of the Senator 
Irom Kentucky, but in that of every freeman, that the Executive Government itself 
ought to be brought to jnfitice in some form or other. But whether -true or false, 



one of his reasons lor invoking the masses of the people of the Uhited States to 
volt against the authority of the Executive (rovernmeut and the authority of Con- 
gress ; he believes it to be true, and so believing recommends — what every freeman of 
proper spirit would recommend in case no otlier remedy were practicable — a revolt 
against the intolerable oppression. 

I may be imperfectly informed upon the subject of this alleged suppression of the 
freedom of the press and of speech ; it is very possible that I may not possess all the 
infoiTuation upon this subject possessed by the Senator from Kentucky ; but so far as I 
have been informed, and so far as I believe, there has been no case, and 1 challenge 
the Senator from Kentucky to produce a single case where there has been any attempt 
on the part of the Executive Government, in wielding the military power of the nation, 
to suppress any newspaper or suppress free speech in any form whatever, where that 
free speech has not indicated a heart at war with the Government of the country, and a 
sympathy with the traitors in the field — not a case ! Is that tlie kind of free speech 
which is so near and dear to the Senator from Kentucky ? Would he, if the question 
were put to him te-day, say to every editor within the limits of the United States, 
whether loyal or disloyal, "I shall not by any means bo displeased to have you de- 
nounce the Government of your country, and by means of your press to stir up in- 
surrection and resistance to the authority, of your Government?" Would he say to 
any editor that such conduct was proj)er or even allowable ? No, sir ; ho would not. 
It is impossible that a loyal man could hesitate for one moment on a such a i|uestion. 

Freedom of the press ! Sir, what is it ? What is that peculiar franchise or privilege 
wliich wo mean by the " freedom of the press ?" The Constitution declares that Con- 
gress shall pass no act abridging the freedom of speech or of the press. I need not 
say to the Senator from Kentucky, that the sole meaning and intent of that clause is, 
that there shall be no censorship of the press exercised liefore publication. It was 
simply intended as an abrogation (if that prerogative of the Crown of England by wliich, 
in ancient times, the King assumed the power of licensing the p"inting of books, and 
prohibiting the publication of any but such as were protected under his license. What 
do GUI' leading statesmen and jurists say on this subject? Let me read one word. 
Justice Story, in his Commentaries, remarking upon this same clatise, the freedoin of 
the press and the freedom of speech, uses this language : 

•'It is plain that the language of this amendment imports no more than that every 
"^man shall have a right to speak, write, and print Iiis opinions upon any subject what- 
" soever, without any prior restraint, so alioays that he does not injure any other person in 
•'his rights, person, property, or reputation, and so alioays that he does not disturb the public 
•'peace, or attempt to subvert the Government. 

This language does not seem to justify the idea that a restraint upon a disloyal press, 
vomiting forth its treason day by day, stirring up discontent, mutiny, and even violence 
among the loyal people, is a violation of the Constitution of the United States, or a 
violation of the freedmen of the x>ress. Like other rights, this is to be used in subordi- 
nation to the public welfare — used to support and not to destroy the Government ; and 
lie is little better than a madman who claims to use it for the very purpose of breaking 
in pieces the shield by wliich it is protected. 

But, again, the Senator from Kentucky, to justify his invocation to the people North 
and the people South to rise in revolt against their Government, uses the following 
language. Speaking of the ex(^cutive Government of the United States, he declares 
tliat — 

"It has ordained at pleaRuro a military despotism in the loyal States, by means of 



'■'-nwui't.s-iwHrii.il. j>iovont marshal's, ajul military 1'o!'c<-m, gorernod neither br law, 
*' pnuiciplcs, nor rulea. from vrhot*e tvrauiiy ami oppressions no man can claim immu- 
"»!fty.; fill of which innst be repudiated and swept awa.v bv the (sovereign people." 

'- AUsf «)iich" — that is, courts-martial, provost murslials, militarj forces — "must be 
«JH«q!f3 awaj" — ^not by law, not by an honest, peaceable election, but "by the sovereign 
p8«^5«i,'^' Sir, I regard this as a direct invocation to tiie people of the United States to 
rasj*: Jffl Ln&urrectien against their C>ov«rnment for the purj^ose, among other purposes, 
«Fa5»t>lLsliiDg and doing away with courts-martial. Courts-martial are to be "swept 
aaBSi^ fey Ui€ sovereign people." I ask the Senator from Kentucky to inform me in 
wfcCi *yar the sovereign jteople are to sweep away courts-martial and provost marshal 
anti: usaJlitarj authority ? In what way is he reach the this object ? In no other but by 
i!tteif:5<w3ratic violence. Courts-martial are a part "of the Constitution of the United 
Sfta£*5*. The Senator iieed not be told that they are as much provided for, and their 
eafeAemc'e and functions as couii)letely guaranteed, by the Constitution as are civil 
6iffiH:s*s for the trial of issne^i between man and man, or for the punishment of crime. 
Aai amendment of the Constitution of the United States dclares, what was not eni- 
feratfflsed in 'the old Constitution, that 

"JNo person shall be held to answer fur i\ capital or otherwise infamous crime unle>5i 
"•<8a a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the /an<f or 
■''ivzi^al forces, or in the niiliia, when in actual service, in time of war or public danger/' 

Sfovw are the sovereign people to change that clause of the Constitution ; how but by 
rVsig^ i-Q revolt against the Government of the United States, asd their constituted 
aatJbarities * Can Congress by any act of legislation abolish courts-martial, whether 
tfeg^ .are goed or whether they bad'!" No, sir, the Constitution has guarantied their 
«s)ft-etic€ : and I beg to inquire of the Senator from Kentucky in what way he would ad- 
jfttiiiMer justice and punish crime in the military or uaval service of the United States 
Mix<»?. by means of courts-martial and provosts marshal, appointed for the purpose Of 
l»««f,-ferm!ng the functions properly pertaining to them ? Sir, this is a declaration directly 
aj^aifist the Constitution of the United States. It invokes insurrection. It was intended 
ta Suvoko insurrection for the imrpose not of preserving the Constitution, for the Cou- 
stifeitien preserves courts-martial, but for the purpose of overthrowing the (!oustitu- 
tifetL. .Such is the blind hatred, it would seem, of some persons — I wish I could ex-Tpt 
feh« Senator from Kentucky — against courts-martial. 

But Rlllhis, it seems, "must be repudiated and swept away by the sovereign peo- 
pte." What sovereign people? The "people of the North and the peoi>le of the 
SteEEtli?" the rebels as well as the friends of the Govermnent? It, would seem so. 
Wluit is meant by " sovereign people" in this connection? Tlainly an unorganized 
tmaiultuous gathering. This Government is a representive democracy : a Government 
itt which the people acting in their primary capacity have nothing to do with the enact- 
vfBaiX of laws. That duty is performed by the representatives chosen according to the 
{arms prescribed by the laws where the elections are held. 
.Again, sir, the Senator from Kentucky declares, 

■"That .as the Constitution and laws aftord no means to exclude from the office Cf" 
-^Prcsiduoii a man appointed to it by military power, or who is declared to be chosen t>> 
"it foj reasott of the suppression of the freedom of election, as by the exclusion of legal 
"'Twfters from th« polls, or by any other means, the people of the United States would be 
"inooinpetent to defend and unworthy to have received the rich heritage of frced..)m 
"bequeatbed to them by their fathers, if they permit that great office so to be filled, ov 
*'tn any other mode than by their own free suffrages." 



9 

We are to have a presidential election iu the eoming November. A Prcsidont isto 
be elected, not by the people, but by electors chosen for that purpose by the people. 
The Senator from Kentucky ha4 this fact in view. He was aware that the people do 
not choose the President. Tlioy choose the instruments who choose the President. It 
1 understand this resolution properly, its meaning and intent is this : that in case any 
portion of th-' people of the United States shall, after this electio)i, take it into their heads 
that there was military interference at the polls, that the army or military officers of 
the army had in any way interfered in the elections held by the people for the choice of 
electors of President, then it will be the right of that discontented portion, however few 
t»r however numerous that portion may be. to declare that the election of President 
under such intluences is void ; that tlie President elect will have no right to assume 
the presideiuial functions, and must be prevented by force. A more direct invocation 
to violence and bloodshed, a more direct appeal to tin; diseonteuted or defeated portion 
of the people of the United States, cannot l>e made. It is deelarini; almost in so many 
words that "if you, the dominant party, shall elect a President, and at the polls 
where this election is held military power shall have been introduced for any purpose 
whatever, we, the defeated party, will rise in rebellion niid prevent, fey force, your 
President from being installed in office." 

In order to cap the climax and to give emphar-i< and point to this ^itrange revolution- 
ary sentiment, the Senator says that unless the i>eoi)le of the United States shall thus 
resist they will be '■^ unvoorthy to have received iln rich heritage of freedom bequeathed to 
them hi/ their fathers.'' Sir. our fathers Itequeathed to us a Government of law. Our 
fathers did not bequeath us a Government by an unorganized and infuriated, mob. — 
This is not the sort of constitutional freedom and compromise which the gentlemau 
mentions in another resolution as having been handed down to ns by Washington and 
his associates. Washington and his associates resorted to no popular violence. They 
made no invocations to unorganized popular assemblages. They were law-abiding 
statesmen. They were the fathers of the Constitution. Nobody was more sensible 
than Washington of the necessity of preserving order under the shield of law. But 
here the Senator from Kentucky, forgetting, as it seems to me. that he is acting under 
a Government of law, utt«rs an appeal for the future, and says to tlie defeated party, 
after the election of 1S64 shall have taken pkce. " if you are defeated, and if you de- 
clare that that defeat was iu consequence of the interference of military force, it will 
be your duty as freemen to interfere by violence and to prevent the installation of the 
President and totally disregard the election." If that be not a revolutionary sentiment, 
an unconstitutional sentiment, I am not able to perceive what will be. It is because 
the Senator from Kentucky foresees, or professes to forsee, this interference, that he 
calls upon the people North and Soutli to revolt against their war-leaders and take this 
matter into their own hands. 

Again, in this indictment against (be Executive of tlie United States, and Senator 
from Kentucky alleges that 

" His [the President's] project is to continue the war upon slavery V)y his further 
'■ usurpations of power, and to get togethei' and buy up a desperate faction of mendi- 
■• cants and adventurers in the rebel States, give them possession of the polls by inter- 
•' posing the bayonet, as in Marj-land, Delaware, and portions of Missouri and Kentucky, 
"and to keep off loyal pro-slavery voters, and thus to form bastard constitutions to 
'• abolitionize those States. •' 

This is another count in the indictment, tHat the project of the President of the 
Ignited States " i* to continue the war upon slavery by further usurpations of power, 



10 

and to get together and buy up a despnate faction of meudicants and adventurers in 
the rebc] States. " Who rompose this ' ' desperate faction' ' in the coutemplation of the 
Senator Irona Kentucky ? Who are these "mendicants" and " adventurers ?" They 
are those people in the rebel States who come within the purview of the President's 
proclamation of the 8th of December last. Let us see whether they are worthy to b^ 
called "mendicants," "a desperate faction." The President in his proclamation, 
speaking of the disloyal population of the States in insurrection says : 
^^ '' A fall pardon is hereby, fjrarUed to them and each of them, icith restoration of all rights 
'^ of property, except as to slaves, and in property cases where rights of third parties shall 
♦• have intervened, and upon the condition that every such person shall take and subscribe 
"an oath, and therefrom henceforward keep and maintain said oath inviolate; and 
"wiich oath shall be registered for permanent preservation, and ?liall be of the tenor 
" and effect following, to wit." 

Now, what is the test, the evidence of their being "a desperate faction" and "men- 
dicants ?" It is the taking of the oath which the President has prescribed in order to 
enable rebels wlio have been in arms against tlie Government to return to their alle- 
giance, and again enjoy the protection of the (rovernment : 

"■'' ' '•'^ solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty (iod, that I will heuce^ 

" ferth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and 
I 'the union of the States therennd-r ; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and 
" faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during the existing rebellion with refer- 
" ence to slaves, so long and so far as not repealed, modified, or held void by Congress, 
I' or by decision of the Supreme Court ; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and 
I 'faithfully support all proclamations of the President made during the existing rebel- 
" lion having reference to slaves, so long and so far as not modified or declared void by 
" decision of the Supreme Court. So help me God." 

Such is the oath directed to be administered to the repentant reliel. The President 
goes further, and declares as follows : 

"And I do further proclaim, declare, and make kuo^vn, that whenever, in any of the 
"States of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama. Georgia, 
I' Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, a number of persons, not less than one 
" tenth in number of the votes cast in such State at the presidential election of the year 
" of our Lord ISGO, eacli liaving taken tlie oath aforesaid and not havins since violated 
"it, and being a qualified voter by the election law of tlie State existing immediately 
"before the so-called act of secession, and .excluding all others, shalf re-establish a 
"State government which shall be republican, and in nowise contravening said oath, 
"such shall be recognized as the true government of the State, and the'" State shal'l 
"^receive thereunder tJie benefits of the constitutional provision which declares that 
" ' the United States shall guaranty to every State in this Union a republican form of 
"government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and, on application of 
"the Legislature, or the Executive, fwhenthe Legis]atur.u\annot be convened, ) .ngaiiist 
" domestic violence.' " 

It is this wicked, abominable oath, opening the door for the rebel populatiun to re- 
turn to their old loyalty, and thus to frustrate the schemes of their leaders, that moves 
the dislike of the Senator. It would seem that such a return on such terms is regarded 
by him as a calauiity or a disgrace, and therefore he heaps upon them the epithets of 
desperate faction and mendicants. 

This class of persons, the repentant rebels, who, like the prodigal son. having seen 
the folly of their ways, shall retnrn to their allegiance and take this oath, are to be 



11 

regarded as the State, or as that portion of the people authorized to reconstruct and 
change it from a rebel State to a loyal, Uniou-loTing State. Such are the "mendicants," 
such the "desperate faction " at which the Senator from Kentucky aims his poisoned 
shafts in these resolutions. Do these harsh epithets wantonly bestowed upon the re- 
pentant rebels for coming back into the Union and acting as a State government indi- 
cate a very strong love of the Union, or the Constitution, or the Government, on the 
part of the Senator from Kentucky ? No, sir. If any inference is to be drawn from 
them, it is one of complete and bitter hostility to them and to the Government, of the 
United States who is ready to receive them ; and it is because the Union may possibly 
be restored by the means pointed out by President Lincoln in his proclamation that the 
Senator from Kentucky thus calls upon the people of the North and South to rise in 
revolt against their war leaders. What patriotism ! what love of the Union ! what 
hatred of the rebellion ! 

Again, sjr, as further proof of the animus and purpose of the Senator in j^resenting 
these resolutions, he goes on to tell ns what are the real objects of the class or party 
he calls the "destructives," including Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United 
States : 

"Their real objects are to peri)etuate their party power, and to hold possession of 
"the Government to continue the aggrandizement of their leaders, great and small, 
"by almost countless offices and employments, by myrfads of plundering contracts, 
"and by putting up to sale the largest amount of spoils that were ever offered to mar- 
"ket by any Government on earth. Their object is not to eradicate slavery." 

I will say at this point that, so far as I am concerned, in this supposition, the Senator 
from Kentucky is entirely mistaken so far as relates to the insurrectionary districts. I 
desire to say in all frankness as to those States and those districts whichare declared to 
be in insurrection, that for one I am in favor of abolishing slavery for ever ; because I 
tliink it, not perhaps the only^cause, but one grea? predominating, leading cause of this 
bloody and wasting war ; and I express it as my opinion that the loyal people of the 
United States never will have permanent peace and tranquility, never bo able to enjoy 
that peace which once was theirs, if they permit this great cause of disturbance to sur- 
vive the struggle. For one, I say that I am in favor of the absolute, total, and eternal 
extirpation of slavery, at least within the limits of the insurrectionary States ; and i 
tiiink the peoi^le of the United States will be very unwise if they do not take vigorous 
and effectual measures for attaining that great object. But the Senator proceeds : 

"Their object is not to eradicate slavery, but only to abolish its form and the mastery; 
"to subjugate wholly the rebel States, and utterly to revolutionize their political and 
" social organization." 

Sir, we have heard a great deal about "subjugation," and the word is flung in our 
faces very frequently. It would seem to be implied by the frequent use of the word 
that there is, or ought to be, something in it extremely inhuman and odious. It is held 
Tip as a sort of scarecrow by the sympathizers with the rebellion to frighten off all effort 
on the part of the loyal people to restore the authority of the Government. I have no 
hesitation in proclaiming that I am in favor of the subjugation of the rebels and the 
subjugation of the rebel States ; but when I use the word I use it solely in the ordinary 
sense of conquest. The subjugation of a people is the conquest of a people. The con- 
quest of a people is the deprivation of all their military power. To conquer them is to 
deprive them of the power of military resistance ; but it by no means implies those acts 
of atrocity, cruelty, and wanton l)arbarity which persons who use this word " s\ibjn- 
gate" mean when they use it as a scarecrow. Subjugation is conquest; no more, no 
less. 



12 

I ask the Senator from Kentucky, I ask eveiy senator here, vrhat 13 it that wo are now 
doing in the rebel States ? Are we not subjugating them ? Are we not breaking up and 
dispersing their military forces, prostrating their military atrength? And what is thi,- 
but the subjugation of the people? The subjugation of a people is the oocupanc y oi' 
their territory by a military force sent there for the purpose of conquest, for the purpose 
of overthrowing the hostile government and the hostile power. Although I have read 
pretty carefully the law of nations and the law of war on the subject of our present diffi- 
cixlties, I have not been able to find any distinction between the conquest or the subju- 
gation of a rebellious territory and a rebellious people and the subjugation and conquest 
of a foreign territory or a foreign people ; and I tell you, sir, that your modern soholiastrf 
will search in vain for any distinction between the two cases. 

Sir. what is war? It implies violence, the use of the highest degree of force com- 
petent for a people acting as a nation to employ. It is u question of superior strength ; 
and I know of no boundary, no limit to the exertion of the power of carrying on war 
but the ordinary sentiments of humanity. And I know of no law but the law of war to 
govern us in our conflict with the rebels. These men have gone out from among 113 
without having suffered wrong. They never felt the weight of the Government, exoep, 
as it bore upon them with gentleness, imparting blessings and breathing encouragement 
and a sense of security into their souls. Never has the Government of this country in- 
jHred the hair of the head of a rebel. They have gone out from among us under th<^ 
false pretense that they foresaw in the future that they should lose their just political 
power and influence in the Union. They have drawn the sword wantonly and wilfully 
npon the Grovernment and loyal people of the United States. Carried away with thw 
vain idea, the gross and childish conceit, that one southern man was eciual to five 
northern men, they have advanced boldly into the arena and thrown down the gage of 
combat. They have thrown down as their gage of battle their cherished institution of 
slavery. I say here boldly, I accept the challenge ; I pick up the glove ; I recognistt 
the issue. Let us see who will win and who will lose. I would fight this battle out .'i* 
long aB there is a man, woman, or child at tho Korth (•apat)le of lifting a musket or i>ush- 
ing a bayonet! [Applause in the galleries.] 

The PRESIDING OFFICER, (Mr. Howe in the .aiair.; Order! 

Mr. HOWARD. I would make this no child's play : and let me say to geutlomeu on 
the other side, that the rebels in this war from the beginning have been fully in earnest. 
They have asked from you no favor. They ask no favor of you now. They meet u.? 
with a steady, proud, and haughty defiance, a defiance which on the side of justice 
would be most magnanimous and i)raiseworthy ; and I honor them, not for their cause, 
not for their wickedness, but fbrthe proud and indomitable spirit with which tlu-y hav.- 
carried on the war. They n\eau to fight us still. They intend to destroy us and out 
Government; or, if they fail in this, they expect to be destroyed; and believe me. 
there will be few of them that will meet their fate grumblingly or with a whine. They 
are men like ourselves, proud of their position, proud of their honor, proud even of the 
wicked cause in which they are engaged. You are not to subdue such men by soft pei - 
.suasions and delicate rose-scented billets-doux. Yoii must meet them with the bayonet, 
the cannon, and every other instrumentality allowable in war. Never have tliey exhi- 
bited to the loyal people of the United States the slightest consideration or for- 
bearance, and wherever there has been any indication of terms of accommodation with 
them they have treated it with contempt. They have spit upon the olive branch whick 
we have held out to them, and trampled it under their feet. 

But, sir. I am digressing. The Senator from Kentucky say.s our object is to subjugal« 



wholly the rebel States, and utterly to revolutionine their political and social systeia. 
Certainly we shall revolutionize their political system. That is the very object of the 
war. What is their political system ? A political organization asserting its absolute 
independence of the Government of the United States, and exerting its military power 
for the overthrow of that Government. Shall we forbear? Shall we not seek to disor- 
ganize this political organization ? What does the Senator from Kentucky mean when 
he denounces against us as a fault that wc arc attempting to destroy the political organ- 
ization of the rebel States ? Is he friendly to that organization ? Does his lioait yearn 
towards it; or is his heart in that condition or indifference which sees as little fault 
on the one side as on the other ! 

But he goes farther. He says that our purpose is — 

• To destroy or banish, and strip of their property, all the pro-slavery people, seces- 
• Zionists and anti-secessionists, loyal and disloyal, combatants and non-combatants, old 
'•men, women, and children, the decrepit, and the non compos mentis.'" 

Does the Senator in his calm reflection impute either to the Executive Government 
or to the dominant party a purpose so cruel, so unnatural, so unspeakably brutal, as 
the destruction of non-combatants, men, women, and children, the decrepit and non 
compos ; or is it ratlier the blind madness of party spirit which prompts this gross and 
calumnious attack upon the Government of his country and the loyal party now in 
)*ower ? Charity toward him would lead me to impute the latter motive and not the 
former. 

Again, he says that the pnrposf of this party and of the Government is — 
'■ To proclaim a mock freedom to the slaves, but by military power to take possession 
'• of the freedmen and work them for their own profit; to do all this, and also to en- 
" slave the white man, by trampling under foot the Constitution and laws of the 
"United States and the States, by the power of a subBidized Army, and lest it" — 
That is, the subsidized Army — 

'■should falter, by liuudreds of thousands of negro janizaries, organized for that purpos* 
■'by the Secretary of \^ar and tlie Adjutant General." 

Jf these atrocious schemes are entertained by the Executive Government, as is 
Ivere indicated, then it would be the right of the American people, the right of any 
eommnuity, to rise in arms against so unjust and tyrannical a Government. ■■ A sub- 
sidi/.ed army?" Ou^ Army, it seems, according to the ideas of the Senator, is not a 
patriotic Army ; it has not volunteered or taken the field from any patriotic motive, 
but merely for i>ay ; and "lest," in the language of the Senator, this Army of white 
volunteers should falter in prosecuting the war for the purpose mentioned in the reso- 
lution, we are to resort to "the hundreds of thousands of negro janizaries organized 
for that puipose by the Se<;retary of War and the Adjutant General ;" that is to say, 
the black troops which we have thus far raised and novr have in our employment and 
service are organized for the base and tyrannical purposes mentioned in those resolu- 
tions — not for the laudable and patriotic purpose of overcoming the rebellion, but for 
the purpose of upholding piunderers, spoilsmen, office-holders, office-seekers, aud the 
entire flock of vultures so vividly and angrily des<n^ibed by the Senator. 

If all that is said in this series of resolutions be ti'ue, (and I am no t now disci^ing 
the truth of it, for that would lead me into t«o broad a field,^ it would not only be the 
right, but it would be the duty of the Ameri«an people, st& a free people, not to wait a 
moment, but to seize the sword of rebellion and inFixT^stifen, drive the harpies of 
tyr.^ur.y from power, .'iml t-KtaV>i-f.l' sous" ^ovtrnir*^ ^ ■•■','' v < i 'a' tiMvlcct #-ai right* 



14_ - --" 

aui our liberties. But it id entirely manifest that under the influence of thi:* blind 
fanaticism of party, which I fear has too powerful an effect on the mind of the Senator 
to allow his intellect to have its free and unbiased action, he has been betrayed uucon- 
sciously, I hope, into the expression of opinions, and into invocations to civil war and 
iusiirrection in which no raan in his sane moments would have indulged. 

Again, there is another ground of complaint ; anotUe*' premonition of the Senator'? 
purpose, in his second resolution, in which he says : 

" So the President of tlie Unite4 States, and the civil and military officers thei'eof, 
"may commit treason against any State, whose government is in the^ i)erformance of 
"its duties under the Federal Constitution, by levying war against it, or in adhering 
" to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort, as resisting with an armed force the ex- 
" ecution of its laws, or adhering to such armed force, giving it aid and comfort." 

The implication is, that wlieuever the President of the United States shall use the 
Army or the Navy for the purpose of keeping the peace within any loyal State acting 
within its constitutional functions, as the Senator says; wherever lie shall have occa- 
sion to use the military force for the preservation of order, for the protection of the 
purity of elections, or for the protection of the citizen, he is guilty of an act of treason 
against the government of the State. It is throwing out before the people the idea that 
on some occasion — the Senator has not told us what — the President has thus employed 
the military power of tlie United States ; and that becaiise he has thus employed it he 
is guilty of treason, and ought to be impeached. This, and nothing short of this, is 
the fair inference from this otherwise perfectly senseless and gratuitous resolution. 

He says further : 

"And where, from the presence or apprehension of force and violence or other cause, 
"any election cannot be so couduoted" — 

That is, according to the laws of the State — 

"It ought not to held at all." 

" Where, from the presence or apprehension of military or other violence, an election 
cannot be so conducted, it ought not to be held at all." Was the Senator aware of the 
full extent and meaning of this declaration .' I trust he was not; but I am not sure. 
What IS the import of the language ? Plainly this : tliat in case an election should be 
held, say, for instance, in the State of Kentucky, and there was either popular violence 
surrounding the polls, or just ground to apprehend popular violence, or if there »hould 
be a military force of the rebels at the polls, threatening to disturb and to break up the 
election, then, according to the Senator, the election ought not to be held at all. Sir, 
what doctrine is this? He would rather see a perfect failure of all elections; he 
would rather see his State disorganized : no members elected to the House of Repre. 
sentatives or to the Senate of Kentucky ; no members elected to tlie Congress . 
he would rather see all government fall into ruins than that any military iorco 
should be employed at the polls to protect the lionest voter, or even to protect the 
judges of the election in the discharge of their duties. Did the Senator from Kentucky 
mean this? He has certainly expressed it. A more anarchical sentiment could never 
have l>fen uttered ; a sentiment more incompatible with the object of any Government, 
civilized or savage ; and yet th« Senator declares that "where, from the presence or 
apprehension of forcfi, violence, or other cause, any election cannot be so conducted, 
it ov<]ht rot lo if. Iip.li] at all." 

Mr. Presidt-nt, I have now liuishod the observations I have felt it my duty t« make 
on tiji.s *erie,< wt r«si)lulioiirt. I look upon tliem a-s inviting, in the most 'Jiriot and 



V 



'ai'geut terms, the massed of the loyal people of the i, ^^.w* i^^atea to rise in msurrection 
against thf> Govcrument, and eject from their places the executive officers who now 
hare charge of it, and to institute a revolutionary Grovernmeut. It is not so f I defy 
any man to read those rickety and almost crazy resolutions, and not come to the same 
conclusion. Sir, I think that a gentleman who claims so much credit to himself for pro- 
found knowledge of the Constitution, who is so strenuoxis in the assertion of his respect 
for law and order, who is so fi-equent in his imputations against others of failing to en- 
tertain a similar respect for them, ought to pause in his career ; and I, for one, will 
never agree to permit such sentiments to pass unnoticed or uncensured so long as I 
have a place in this 1)odv-. 



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